Apparatus for gripping and drawing off the yarn of the cop tip bunch for use in a cop-change automatic loom



March 1966 SADATOSHI OKAJIMA ETAL 3,240,235

APPARATUS FOR GRIPPING AND DRAWING OFF THE YARN OF THE COP TIP BUNCH FOR USE IN A COP-CHANGE AUTOMATIC LOOM Filed July 6, 1964 I5 Sheets-Sheet l March 1966 SADATOSHI OKAJIMA ETAL 3,240,236

APPARATUS FOR GRIPPING AND DRAWING OFF THE YARN OF THE COP TIP BUNCH FOR USE IN A COP-CHANGE AUTOMATIC LOOM Filed July 6, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 1956 SADATOSHI OKAJIMA ETAL 3,240,236

APPARATUS FOR GRIPPING AND DRAWING OFF THE YARN OF THE C TIP BUNCH FOR USE IN A COP-CHANGE AUTOMATIC LQOM Filed July 6, W64 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent ice 3,240,236 APPARATUS FUR GRIPPING AND DRAWING OFF THE YARN OF THE COP TEP BUNH FUR USE IN A COP-CHANGE AUTOMATIC LQOM Sadatoshi Okajima and Takashi Niwa, Kariya, Japan, as-

signors to Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd, Kariya, Japan Filed July 6, 1964, Ser. No. 380,220 Claims priority, application Japan, July 10, 1963, 38/345,540; July 16, 1963, 38/158,626 4 Claims. (Cl. 139-257) This invention relates to an apparatus for gripping and drawing off the yarn of the cop tip bunch for use in a cop-change automatic loom of the magazine loader type, in which a plurality of cops contained in a cop reservoir are successively transferred to a cop replenishing mechanism.

It has heretofore been proposed to employ air jet and suction to loosen the tip bunch of the cop, and also to provide a rotary beater acting upon the tip bunch of the cop for the same purpose. In such apparatus, however, it has been found that the desired result can not always be expected by reason of varying conditions of the tip bunch of the cop, the firmness, amount of the yarn, or the length of the yarn end of the tip bunch. The object of the present invention is to provide a new mechanism adapted for gripping the yarn of the cop tip bunch with accuracy and for drawing off the yarn end under moderate tension and without breaking it. With the above object in view, the apparatus according to this invention comprises a specifically designed nipper consisting of tongs adapted to grip the tip bunch of the cop, means for giving relative rotation between the cop and said nipper in the direction for unwinding the tip bunch yarn to loosen the tip bunch, and means for retracting the nipper from the cop with the free yarn end gripped by the closed nipper.

This invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of a starting mechanism for controlling the movement of the nipper;

FIGURE 3 is a front view showing the relation between a cop and the nipper;

FIGURE 4 is a front view of the nipper being opened;

FIGURE 5 is a front view of the nipper gripping the tip bunch of the cop;

FIGURE 6 is another front view of the nipper when it is closed, gripping the tip bunch of the cop;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a device for controlling the position of the cop; and

FIGURE 8 shows a cross section taken along line VIIIVIII of FIGURE 7.

It is to be understood that the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1 of the drawing is provided on the cop-change side of an automatic loom frame. In FIGURE 1, the reference numeral 1 designates a rotating shaft having an eccentric disc 2 thereon, and an arm 3 with an eccentric strap co-operating with said disc 2 is pivoted to the free end of a lever 4 through a pin-and-slot connection as shown. The lever 4 is fixed to a rod 5 having an arm 6 thereon, so that as the shaft 1 rotates the arm 6 is oscillated around the axis of the rod 5. To the other end of the arm 6, there are pivoted links 7 and 8. The other end of the link 7 is pivoted to the free end of a lever 10 carrying a pawl 15, and the other end of the link 8 is pivoted to the free end of a lever 12 carrying a pawl 16,

3,240,236 Patented Mar. 15, 1956 said levers 10 and 12 being loosely mounted on shafts 9 and 11, respectively. Fixed to said shafts 9 and 11 are rachet wheels 13 and 14, respectively, which are adapted to be driven by means of said pawls 15 and 16. The ratchet wheel 13 is provided with a toothless portion 17, and the other ratchet wheel 14 is similarly provided with a toothless portion 18, and normally the pawls 15 and 16 are playing on said toothless portions 17 and 13, respectively, so that the shafts 9 and 11 are not rotated. A bevel gear 19 is fixed on the shaft 9, with which a bevel gear 26 carried by an arm 21 is meshed. The arm 21 is connected with a lever 22 through a pin-and-slot connection as shown, and the lever 22 is connected to a nipper holder 35 slidably mounted on a shaft 36. Insofar as the pawl 15 is in engagement with the toothless portion 17 on the ratchet wheel 13, said lever 22 is not oscillated, so that the nipper 23 will be held in its retracted position as shown in full line in FIGURE 1.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, 24 is a transferrer or hammer for transferring a cop into a shuttle, on the top face of which a roller 25 carried by a lever 27 pivoted as at 26 rests. To the end of said lever carrying the roller 25, there is pivoted a rod 28. The other end of said rod 23 is pivotally connected to an arm 30 which is fixed to a shaft 29. Fixed to the same shaft 29, there is another arm 31 carrying a hooked member 32. A hook 32' at the free end of the member 32 is engaged with the ratchet wheel 13. It is to be noted that the operation of the nipper 23 for gripping the tip bunch of the cop is con trolled by the action of said transferrer 24, as hereinafter described.

Now, when the transferrer mechanism is put in operation and the transferrer 24 is turned downwardly, thereby transferring the cop C, the lever 27 is swung downwardly into the position shown in chain line by the action of a spring 33, the hook 32 will be pushed rightwardly for one tooth of the ratchet wheel 13 to the position shown in chain line in FIGURE 2. Immediately thereafter, the transferrer 24 returns to its initial position and, at this moment, it will push the roller 25 upwardly to its initial position thereby the hook 32' will rotate the ratchet wheel 13 for one pitch. As a result, the toothless portion of the ratchet wheel 13 will be shifted, and the pawl 15 will now become operative and the shaft 9 is rotated, whereby the lever 22 is oscillated around the axis 34. Thus, the nipper 23 together with its holder 35 is moved forwardly guided by the shafts 11 and 36 toward the tip end of the cop C in the position immediately adjacent replenishing position R. When the lever 22 is oscillated and comes to the position shown in chain line in FIGURE 1, the pawl 15 will drop again onto the toothless portion 17 of the ratchet wheel '13, so that the movement of the lever 22 is stopped, whereby the nipper 23 grips the tip bunch of the cop C in the manner about to be described.

As shown in FIGURES 3 to 6, the nipper 23 consists of a pair of pliers or tongs having a first half 46 and a second half 46', and each tongs half is provided with an inner operative face of an 'arcuate cross section to conform to the circumferential shape of the tip bunch of the cop, which face is provided with a lining of flexible material. The pair of tongs is normally closed by action of a spring 47. The position of the nipper shown in full line in FIGURE 3 corresponds with the position of the same shown in full line in FIGURE 1. In this position, the nipper is gripping the yarn end of the last replenished cop, the other yarn end having been cut by a temple cutter along the fabric selvage, and the yarn is being sucked in by a suction tube 38. Hence, it is necessary to release said yarn end. For the purpose, a trip or cam 39 pivoted at 40 is provided as seen from 3 FIGURE 3. This trip is oscillatable in anticlockwise direction against the action of a spring 42, but prevented from oscillating in the clockwise direction by a stop 41. The nipper 23 consists of the two halves 46 and 46' pivoted as at 45 and 45, respectively, to a support 44 secured to a shaft 43 which is journaled in the holder 35, and a spring 47 pressing the rear ends of the tong halves 46 and 46', thereby normally holding the tongs closed.

When the nipper 23 is moved forwardly (leftwardly in FIGURE 3) at the time of cop change operation, the lower end of the trip 39 engages with the upper inclined face of the tong half 46 and is slightly oscillated thereby. As soon as the upper end portion of the trip abuts against the stopper 41, the trip is prevented from further oscillation and it acts against the tong half 46 to press the rear portion thereof so that tong half 46 is turned around the pivot 45. Said tong half 46 is provided on its inner side with a tooth or jaw 48, and the other half 46 is also provided on its inner side with a similar tooth 48' meshing with said upper tooth 48, so that upon downward movement of the rear end of the upper half 46 the rear end of the lower half 46' will be moved upwardly, whereby the nipper 23 will be opened against the action of the spring 47. Thus, the yarn end which has been caught by the nipper since the last cop change operation will be released.

When released from the trip 39, the nipper 23 is closed and, as it proceeds further and approaches the tip end of the cop C, it is acted upon by a second trip 39' which is constructed similarly with the first trip 39 hereinbefore described, so that the nipper 23 is again opened. As soon as the opened nipper 23 reaches the position surrounding the tip bunch of the cop C, it is released from the second trip 39 and the halves 46 and 46 of the nipper will be closed, thereby gripping the tip bunch of the cop.

On the shaft 43 of the nipper support 44 journa'led in the holder 35, there is a gear 49. When the nipper 23 grips the tip bunch of the cop in the manner described above, said gear 49 comes into mesh with a gear 50 fixed to the shaft 36. The shaft 9 has a transverse projection 51 adapted to co-operate with a pin 53 on a gear 52 fixed to the shaft 11. Said gear 52 meshes with a gear 54 on the shaft 36. The projection 51 on the shaft 9 is so arranged that it acts upon the pin 53 on the gear 52 just before the shaft 9 is stopped, and that by the downward movement of the pin 53 the pawl 16 which has been playing on the toothless portion 18 of the ratchet wheel 14 is shifted to the toothed portion thereof, so that the ratchet wheel 14 is rotated. Thus, the shaft 11 is rotated when the shaft 9 is stopped. As the shaft 11 is rotated, the gear 49 is rotated through the gears 52, 54 and 50. From the foregoing it will be seen that the nipper 23 gripping the tip bunch of the cop C is rotated, being driven from the rotating shaft 1, while the cop C is held fixed. The rotation of the nipper 23 relative to the cop C should be in the direction for unwinding the yarn on the tip bunch of the cop, so that the yarn end of the tip bunch may readily be loosened. While in the mechanism shown in the drawings the nipper 23 is rotated relative to the cop C which is held fixed, if desired it may be designed that the cop C is rotated relative to a fixed nipper 23, or both the nipper and the cop can be differentially rotated with different rotating speeds. In any case, the direction of the relative rotation should be in the direction for unwinding the yarn end of the tip bunch of the cop.

Just before the pawl 16 comes into the toothless portion 18 of the ratchet wheel 14, the pin 53 on the gear 52 will engage with and depress the projection 51, so that the ratchet wheel 13 starts its rotation by the action of the pawl 15, while the ratchet wheel 14 is stopped. According to said motion, the oscillating movement of the lever 22 is in the direction to retract the nipper 23. When the nipper is retracted with the yarn end entrained by the 4,. flexible lining on the inner sides of the tong halves 46 and 46, the lower end of the second trip 39 is pressed by the rear edge of the upper tong half 46 acting against the action of the spring 42 (FIGURE 6), and the tong halves 46 and 46 will be closed after departing from the tip end of the cop. Thus, the nipper 23 with the yarn end nipped thereby will be retracted to the position shown in full line in FIGURE 1. At this time, the pawl 15 will play on the toothless portion 17 of the ratchet wheel 13.

As shown in FIGURES 1, 7 and 8, there is provided a presser member 55 for holding the cop C next to cop C which is in the replenishing position or which is about to be changed. This pressing member 55 comprises an arcuate pressing face 56 and a separator 57, and is adapted to prevent the relative rotation of the cop which is liable to be caused when the nipper 23 is rotated. Said presser 55 is actuated by the above-mentioned shaft 9 which has a cam 58 acting upon an oscillatable lever 59 which is fixed to a rod 60. This rod 60 has fixed thereto another lever 61 having its free end engaging with a shank of the presser 55, as shown.

As hereinbefore described, the nipper 23 is rotated while gripping the tip of the cop, thereby loosening the tip bunch. At the termination of one rotation of the shaft 11, the pin 53 on the gear 52 abuts against and presses down the projection 51, so that the pawl 15 which has been playing on the toothless portion 17 of the ratchet wheel 13 will enter into the operative position again to drive the ratchet wheel. Upon this motion, the nipper 23 starts its retracting motion toward its initial position, grasping the yarn end. At the same time, by the rotation of the cam 58 the lever 61 is oscillated upwardly, thereby lifting the presser member 55, so that the cop C will be released and be capable of rolling down chute 37 to the replenishing or cop change position R. When said cop C has moved into the cop change position, the presser member 55 will be moved downwardly onto the next cop, with the separator 57 inserted between the two cops as shown. When said retracting nipper 23 reaches its initial position, the pawl 15 will again come into the toothless portion 17 of the ratchet wheel 13, and thus one cycle of operation of the present mechanism will be completed.

In the apparatus according to this invention, the suction pipe 38 is provided between the tip end of the cop and the retracted position of the nipper 23, so that the yarn leading from the cop is drawn into the pipe 38. The purpose of providing said suction pipe is to pull out a greater length of yarn than the distance between the tip end of the cop and the nipper, thereby providing a superfious length which is formed into a U-sh-aped loop in the suction pipe and giving a moderate tension at the yarn end, yet preventing undesirable excess tension at the time of the cop change operation. In order to prevent any undesirably superfious length of yarn from being formed by the suction pipe 38, there is provided a stopper or brake 62 acting upon the cop. As the pulled out yarn end is normally held under moderate tension, there would not be any danger of breakage of the yarn due to the yarn being brought into contact with any part of the apparatus by wind created by the motion of the slay.

When the cop acted upon by the transferrer 24 is inserted into a shuttle at the time of a cop change operation, any excess tension would be prevented by the presence of a bufier zone formed by the U-shaped loop of the yarn in the suction pipe 38. Upon the occurrence of picking motion, the yarn end is cut by the temple cutter in the conventional manner, and said yarn is sucked through the suction pipe 38. By this time, the mechanism according to this invention is put in operation, the nipper 23 starting its forward movement, opened by the co-operation of the first trip 39, releasing the yarn end which has been gripped by the nipper, and thus said yarn end will be released and sucked in through the suction pipe 39.

From the foregoing it will be seen that, according to this invention, the gripping and drawing off of the yarn end from the cop may be more readily and exactly effected by the employment of the nipper 23 which is specifically constructed and controlled; that the yarn end drawn oif from the cop is controlled by the provision of the suction pipe 38 so as to prevent any breakage of the yarn due to excessive tension, yet maintaining the necessary moderate tension; and that the cop change operation can be accurately effected by the provision of the presser member 55 which is adapted to firmly hold the cop in the predetermined position during the yarn end loosening operation and to correctly guide the cop into the cop change position.

What we claim is:

1. Apparatus for gripping and drawing off yarn of a cop tip bunch for use in a cop-change automatic loom having a cop supply chute directing fresh cops to a replenishing position, comprising; a nipper having tong halves and having jaws meshing with each other, a sup port on which said jaws are mounted, a spring engaging said jaws normally tending to hold said two tong halves closed, means coupled to said support for moving the said nipper toward and away from said chute, a first trip engageable with one of said tong halves and adapted to temporarily open the tong halves at the start of forward movement of the nipper, a second trip engageable with one of said tong halves and adapted to temporarily open said tong halves just as the nipper arrives at the tip bunch of the cop, and thereafter disengageable from the tong halves to permit closing of the tong halves for gripping the yarn of the cop tip bunch.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means for moving the nipper toward and away from said chute comprises a first ratchet wheel having a toothless portion, a first shaft on which said first ratchet wheel is fixed, a first pawl adapted to cooperate with said first ratchet wheel, a second ratchet wheel having a toothless portion, a second shaft on which said second ratchet wheel is fixed, a second pawl adapted to cooperate with said second ratchet wheel, means coupled to said first pawl for bringing the first pawl into driving contact with the first ratchet wheel, a transferer connected to said means for controlling said means, an oscillatable lever coupled to said first ratchet wheel and connected with the nipper so as to move the nipper forwardly toward the tip end of a cop, means coupled to said second ratchet wheel for starting the rotation of the second ratchet wheel just before the first ratchet wheel is stopped, said nipper being rotatably mounted on said support, gear means coupled between said second shaft and the nipper for rotating said nipper when said second shaft rotates, and means coupled between said first and second ratchet Wheels for starting the rotation of the first ratchet wheel just before the second ratchet wheel is stopped and for returning said oscillatable lever so that the nipper is retracted to its initial position.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, which further comprises a cop presser member having a pressing lining and a separator and adapted to firmly hold the cop next to the cop waiting in the replenishing position, the former cop being separated from the latter cop by means of said separator.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a suction pipe adjacent the path of movement of the nipper and adjacent the fully Withdrawn position of the nipper and adapted to transversely pull the yarn being drawn off by the retracting nipper into the suction pipe so as to form a U-shaped loop of the yarn therein to take up the slackening of the yarn.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,256,251 2/1918 Osgood et al. 139-257 2,681,666 6/1954 Moseby et a1. 139-257 XR 3,013,586 12/1961 Banks 139257 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,240,371 7/ 1959 France.

7,424 of 1910 Great Britain.

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner. H. S. JAUDON, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR GRIPPING AND DRAWING OFF YARN OF A COP TIP BUNCH FOR USE IN A COP-CHANGE AUTOMATIC LOOM HAVING A COP SUPPLY CHUTE DIRECTING FRESH COPS TO REPLENISHING POSITION, COMPRISING; A NIPPER HAVING TONG HALVES AND HAVING JAWS MESHING WITH EACH OTHER, A SUPPORT ON WHICH SAID JAWS ARE MOUNTED, A SPRING ENGAGING SAID JAWS NORMALLY TENDING TO HOLD SAID TWO LONG HALVES CLOSED, MEANS COUPLED TO SAID SUPPORT FOR MOVING THE SAID NIPPER TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID CHUTE, A FIRST TRIP ENGAGEABLE WITH ONE OF SAID TONG HALVES AND ADAPTED TO TEMPORARILY OPEN THE TONG HALVES AND ADAPTED MOVEMENT OF THE NIPPER, A SECOND TRIP ENGAGEABLE WITH ONE OF SAID TONG HALVES AND ADAPTED TO TEMPORARILY OPEN SAID TONG HALVES JUST AS THE NIPPER ARRIVES AT THE TIP BUNCH OF THE COP, AND THEREAFTER DISENGAGEABLE FROM THE TONG HALVES TO PERMIT CLOSING OF THE TONG HALVES FOR GRIPPING THE YARN OF THE COP TIP BUNCH. 